Event Details

In The Final Gift, Therese Bartholomew tries to make sense of the murder of her brother Steve, a tragedy that will forever link her to the young man who killed him. The film addresses universal ideas of forgiveness and redemption as well as the larger societal questions: how do we make peace with crime, support the victims, and restore the offenders?

Following the screening of The Final Gift, join Therese and three other filmmakers for a lively Q&A discussion of the film, of forgiveness, and criminal justice.

When & Where

Bellmore Movies
222 Pettit Avenue Bellmore,
NY 11710

Thursday, October 24, 2013 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (PDT)

Organizer

Tikkun Long Island

Tikkun Long Island is a recently formed nonprofit organization dedicated to help youth who are hurting and in need of healing. Most of the young people we work with have been extremely harmed and have lived lives in which they felt trapped. Some are orphans, some have been in jail, some have family members in jail, and others are in the foster-care system against their will.

Many of the kids we work with are on what is called the school-to-prison pipeline and will not finish high school. Currently, the youth recidivism rate on Long Island is one of the highest in the nation. In New York, approximately 75 percent of juveniles who have been in prison are re-arrested within three years, which is evidence that the current system is failing our young people and endangering our communities.

In the process of this all, many of these children feel lost and like they don't have a chance in this life so they keep committing crimes. Our organization helps publish these kid's stories and allows them to be heard. Through our mentoring, we work on forgiveness tactics that aim to restore justice.

Our director Dr. Robert Goldman J.D., Psy.D. is the Supervising Psychologist of the Suffolk County Riverhead Jail. His work with the County is focused primarily on the juvenile offender population. He recently co-authored a book titled “No Room For Vengeance In Justice and Healing” with Victoria Ruvolo, a woman disavowed vengeance by embracing forgiveness towards a teen who nearly killed her by hurling a 20-pound frozen turkey at her passing vehicle.